Scintillators are materials that can emit light upon absorbing radiation or energy from ionizing radiation. The research, defense, and industrial communities use scintillators as radiation detectors in a variety of applications, such as, but not limited to, imaging, nuclear power generation, detection of special nuclear materials, and homeland security.
Detectors for the detection of neutrons in the presence of photons can use many different methods to discriminate signals that originate from either neutrons or photons. As an example, use of 3He in a pressurized tube for neutron detection permits discrimination of neutrons from photons by pulse amplitude. These detectors fail to correctly discriminate neutrons from photons only about one per 50,000 events. There are a few other scintillation materials that have slightly different light output characteristics when the energy is deposited by a photon or by a charged particle. This permits pulse shape discrimination (PSD) with sophisticated electronics. Another approach is to employ detectors with a very small probability of interaction for photons and a relatively high probability of interaction for neutrons. Some detectors of this type can achieve essentially 100% discrimination if charged particles are directly detected.
There is an ongoing need in the research, defense and industrial communities for scintillators that demonstrate improved capabilities in terms of light output, detection efficiency, high count rate capability, better time resolution of events, and, for neutron scintillators, fewer false counts due to gamma radiation. Especially in view of the imminent shortage of 3He, there is a need for an inexpensive replacement technology for thermal neutron detection, particularly for replacement technologies that provide easy to make detectors that can have various geometries and/or sizes.